Transferability: cross-training for your career
By: Glennie Fitzgerald Sewell
Career Services Graduate Assistant
Based on circumstance, geographic limitations, and even opportunity, students sometimes need to
identify alternative career choices. It can be realistic for students seeking to enter the working world to
consider more than one viable career path: one as the main interest, and others as viable fall-back
interests. One example of this practice could be an English education major transferring his or her strong
communication skills to be a successful food service or seasonal restaurant manager (the hospitality
industry), during the summertime.
Granted, this is but one example of many paths. Students may also wish to take courses that develop
useful technical or conventional business skills, such as web-design, internet sales, management,
accounting, or marketing. Often, career choices can require different training or practice; however, wouldbe applicants may wish to look carefully at how a secondary career choice may relate to and benefit from
the knowledge and experience developed for the primary job choice.
Consider the liberal arts or education major with a summer (or evening job) working in amusement park
restaurant management. Writing and speaking clearly is a must in running any business. The ability to
openly and positively communicate with employees, guests, and customers is essential in the smooth
operation of any successful business, not to mention a satisfying and warm communication between
those who serve and those being served. For any major, these communication skills are an important
necessity for the job. An education major preparing for a teaching position but wishing to keep other
options open might consider a summer position or co-op in public service, an education- related nonprofit, or government agency. Ultimately, this student may use the secondary job as a workable fall-back
option, but it could lead beyond employment flexibility and offer a desirable alternative career path.
Similarly, students in business or technical majors can increase their options and employability by
seeking classes or opportunities in which they learn and practice additional communication and analytical
skills. Courses in the humanities or liberal arts not only hone these skills but prepare a colleague to
converse about many topics, a networking advantage. By writing for a newsletter, assuming leadership
roles in campus organizations, or pursuing a co-op, students can engage with their community and
develop skills that make them better job applicants.
Career Journal, February 2007, Vol4. Issue. 3
http://www.wcu.edu/WebFiles/PDFs/careerservices_cj_feb-07.pdf